Hospitals won’t tell you what a procedure costs before they do it.
“Even doctors often do not know the costs of the tests and procedures they prescribe. When Dr. Michael Collins, an internist in East Hartford, Conn., called the hospital that he is affiliated with to price lab tests and a colonoscopy, he could not get an answer. “It’s impossible for me to think about cost,” he said. “If you go to the supermarket and there are no prices, how can you make intelligent decisions?”
“Instead, payments are often determined in countless negotiations between a doctor, hospital or pharmacy, and an insurer, with the result often depending on their relative negotiating power. Insurers have limited incentive to bargain forcefully, since they can raise premiums to cover costs.”http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/health…
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Does Our Healthcare System Operate On Free Market Principles?
Posted on June 3, 2013.
Planning on blaming Obamacare on the free market? You know you did this in 2008…after Fannie/Freddie took out the housing sector and took the banks with it…
No, it is not a free market system. It is highly subsidized and regulated; at the hospital, in big pharma, and in the insurance industry.
And I don’t know what hospitals you’re referring to, but my health care provider gives a price quote prior to the procedure.
***Added: @ Orianna: Actually, I’m a proponent of government-run universal healthcare. But nice assumption. And your statement about regulation defies logic. Regulation is the opposite of being able to calculate actual cost, as part of the cost has been regulated. I hate to be circular, but I’m afraid your mistake is just that obvious.
No way.
We can’t even buy insurance across state lines.
As far as healthcare itself, no, because the costs we pay subsidies the costs incurred by the hospital/doctor by medicare only repaying them a part of the costs incurred, as well as uninsured people skipping out on their bill.
In the free market, the doctors would get paid in full for services rendered, and could turn away people that couldn’t pay for the services they wanted.
Depends on state statutes. There is regulation but pull my finger doesn’t have all of the facts. However, without those regulations in place, he would precisely never know the cost of anything and it could be increased at any time without warning. So Laissez Faire and healthcare don’t mesh.
Actually you are wrong. Even a wise uninsured person can negotiate a settlement prior to a procedure. Insurance companies offer these rates that hospitals accept as a package. My wife heads the billing dept at a hospital so my source is good.
By the way, no one knows what it costs them to manufacture any item but they can figure out what is is on average.
With the exception of small business; most large business, corporations, and international corporations run in what is called a “Protectionist Market”; not “Free Market”. An entity in business that initiates protectionist clauses and or laws, would not qualify under free market. Pattens are a form of protectionism, many health-care industries operate within the realms of pattens on design, development, and marketing of engineered products. In addition, these same companies utilize lobbyist to open and close doors, via proxy the US Government; to lessen the competition domestically and foreign wise.
“Free market” principles do not (and cannot) apply to captive markets.
No, health care is something you must pay whatever the provider ask, or die.
Please tell me you’re joking. Hospitals, doctors, pharmaceuticals, the whole nine yards are highly regulated.